Boards

Watched this last night and thought it was pretty good but quite flawed. After a strong opening it seemed to settle into the usual nutter pursues good-guy style thriller. Whilst this was all very gripping it seemed to overide the rest of the movies themes making it look pretentious when it clearly wasnt.
There were also a couple of really dumb elements like; Daniel Craig never going to the Police about his stalker and Samantha Morton letting a beaten and bruised stranger into her home at the climax.
Has anyone read the book and if so, how does it compare?

Film is absolute gash! Seriously awful acting, i could barely watch it! I quite like the book though although i read it to death for A-levels. It's def worth a read if you like the film though, it's much more interesting in comparison.

was the overarching point that leapt out of the pages of Enduring Love?

I was left feeling very short changed. The beginning was very vivid but it crumbled into cringeworthy clichéd stalker rubbish. Characters like little pawn being knocked around to suit the tawdry plot twists, with no believable substance or motivation other than to fulfill their role as shabby constructs in bad fiction.

I really enjoyed the book and think it’s one of his best works.
I was on the edge of my seat at times when watching the film – I recall noting some gaps at the time but it was such a long time ago that I read the book… and it seems almost as long ago that I saw the film… (saw it at cinema when it came out).
I think Rhys Ifans is brilliant in it.. as is Samantha Morton, one of Britain’s best actresses – she’s way cool – cooler than the rest.

and far from pointless, but very obviously flawed. Definitely not one of his best novels, but still worthwhile. I don't really want to argue about it because I studied McEwan at university and I'll just sound pretentious.

Most obvious flaw that seemed instantly apparent: the couple (the guy who's being stalked and his academic wife) seemed an incredibly unbelievable couple.

yeah the book was flawed to hell. I wanted to like it, but ended up really disliking the main character... mainly due to how fucking soppy and wet he was. And his interests and opinions felt self righteous from the off... and i couldnt help feeling

And the epilogue is pathetic.

Having recently seen Atonement, it remeinded me that McEwan seems to always always cop out at the end. The jump to the present day, with her saying she made all this up, "its my gift to them for taking there love away" or whatever. I just felt cheated after a really really great opening.

It reminded me of the final series of Roseanne where she wins the lottery, but you find out at the end she didnt, and she's been writing a story. Oh and that Dan is dead. And she just kept him alive in her novel of "what could have been".

You're right, McEwan always cops out at the end. I think one reason for this in Enduring Love is that he did the old writers trick of writing the end first. The beginning and ending of the book seem to come from a completely different stories and are told in a completely different way to the middle of the book. Their placement is ridiculously jarring considering it comes from such an acclaimed author. It doesn't help that all the main characters are incredibly annoying. Aside from the obvious double meaning of the title, the whole book felt like an endurance test.